


Fever Dreams

by Animedemon01



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Bullying, Fever, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Pneumonia, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22602955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animedemon01/pseuds/Animedemon01
Summary: After being stuck in the rain for hours Otter Man contracts pneumonia.
Relationships: Moose Boy/Otter Man (Carmen Sandiego)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Fever Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if some of the stuff about pneumonia is a little off; I'm not an expert.  
> I took a break from my main fics to write this, but I'll be doing those two Bits and Pieces next, although I haven't had as much time to write because of school.  
> Moose Boy and Otter Man are still students at this point, but nearing graduation. Otter Man is 23 and Moose Boy is 24 in this fic.

Four hours. That was how long Otter Man had spent tied to that tree in the middle of a thunderstorm. He wasn’t surprised that none of his friends had noticed he was gone-he’d always had an irrational fear of thunderstorms and usually hid somewhere during them-but it still hurt.

Due to his past experiences, Otter Man was an easy target for bullying, and a group of his classmates had picked up on that. He was used to feeling powerless in an abusive situation, so when finding himself being physically and emotionally harassed once again, he simply tried to block it out, and didn’t even bother telling anyone what was going on (it hadn’t gotten him anywhere in the past, so he saw no point in trying).

The reason his bullies decided to tie him to the tree in the first place was because they had somehow figured out he was terrified of thunderstorms. They had laughed when he begged them not to leave him there but walked away without another word. As far as he could tell, they weren’t planning on coming back for him.

Being forced to confront his fear in such a way had triggered a fairly bad anxiety attack. Otter man spent the whole time he was out there curled up in a ball with his hands over his ears. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out there at first; it honestly felt like days.

When he hadn’t shown up for dinner, one of his roommates, Fallen Angel, had decided to bring him something to eat, figuring he was still in the dorm. When she couldn’t find him there, she alerted the rest of the group, and they split up to look for him. Knowing Otter Man feared storms, nobody though he’d be outside, so that was the last place they looked.

Moose Boy was the one who found him. He didn’t have anything to cut the ropes with, but he was strong enough to physically rip them apart.

Otter Man must’ve looked pathetic as Moose Boy carried him inside. Covered in mud and soaked from the rain, shaking and crying as he clung to the taller man.

Moose Boy didn’t bring Otter Man to the infirmary, knowing the smaller man was stressed enough without being poked and prodded at by doctors, instead opting to head back to the dorms. He grabbed a set of fresh clothes for both of them (he was muddy and wet as well at this point), and carried Otter Man to the communal showers, which were thankfully empty at the time.

Otter Man wasn’t normally the type to shower with his boyfriend, especially in the communal showers, but at this point he was too miserable to care, and really just wanted to go to bed. He allowed Moose Boy to strip away his wet clothes and wash the mud from his body. While Otter Man usually tried to keep his pride, he was too cold and upset right now to even care.

The storm was still raging when they got out of the shower, and Moose Boy could tell how anxious the whole situation had made the smaller man. After carrying Otter Man back to his bed, and making sure he was warm enough, Moose Boy moved his own bed so the two of them would be next to each other. Normally, due to VILE discouraging any romantic relationships, they would keep any interactions that couldn’t be brushed off as purely platonic hidden from the Head Faculty or anyone that would spill their secret for fear of being separated, but Moose Boy wasn’t about to leave Otter Man alone for even a second in his current condition. Moose Boy figured that he could also brush the situation off as one friend comforting another by explaining what had happened if he needed to.

“Sven, what happened?” Asked Moose Boy in a gentle tone.

Otter Man rolled over to face the wall. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sven, we’ve been together for almost six months now, please just tell me what happened. I know you wouldn’t go out in a storm like voluntarily, and I don’t think you would ever tie yourself to a tree. Please just tell me what’s going on.”

“ _Nej_!”

Moose Boy pulled Otter Man into his arms.

“Henrik!” He protested, trying to escape the stronger man’s grasp. “Let me go!”

“Not until you tell me what happened!”

Otter Man broke down. “You want to know what happened? They tied me to a tree in a middle of a thunderstorm because they found out I was afraid of them, and I was too weak to do anything about it! You happy now?”

He was sobbing again; the events of the day had really taken their toll on him.

Moose Boy held Otter Man even tighter. He knew the group Otter Man was talking about. Usually he ignored their torment out of respect for Otter Man who had told him not to get involved, but this time they had taken things too far.

“Sven, I’m so sorry.” He muttered. “I should have noticed you were missing.”

Otter Man clung to Moose Boy. “It-it was like I was a kid again, hiding alone during a thunderstorm, afraid to make a sound in case my father decided being afraid of thunder was a good enough reason to beat me.”

Moose Boy didn’t say anything, wordlessly comforting the smaller man until he fell asleep.

Later on, while Moose Boy was attempting to study while simultaneously keeping an eye on Otter Man, he was approached by another one of their roommates, who currently went by Crowley.

“Those arseholes did this tae him, aye?” Asked the Scotsman.

Moose Boy nodded. “They tied him to a tree in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

Crowley’s expression turned murderous. He was known to be a bit of a psycho, but he really did care about his friends.

“I needty blow off some stream.” He said before leaving the room.

They had classes in the morning, but Otter Man was still tired and anxious from the night before and didn’t feel up to going to class. Moose Boy, not wanting to leave the other man alone, also didn’t go to class. Neither one of them were questioned for skipping, and Moose Boy assumed that Crowley had spilled the story to the Head Faculty as an excuse for why he inevitably beat the living shit out of the bullies.

Moose Boy hoped the other man would start to recover from the event, but he only seemed to be getting worse. Otter Man was unwilling to get out of bed all morning, and by midafternoon, he had developed a fever and a concerning cough. Moose Boy had tried to get him to eat a proper meal but was only able to convince him to eat half a piece of toast, which hadn’t stayed down, anyways.

Otter Man, of course, tried to brush off all of his symptoms. He wasn’t getting up because he was tired, Moose Boy only _thought_ he had a fever because the larger man’s hands were cold, the cough was an apparent allergy, and, of course he only threw up because all the food on the island was crap and the toast had upset his stomach. Moose Boy didn’t believe any of this.

By nighttime, Moose Boy was really starting to worry. Otter Man felt warmer, his cough sounded worse, and he’d thrown up two more times. He also seemed to be in pain just from coughing and even breathing. Moose Boy figured he’d just bring Otter Man to the infirmary in the morning, but when the smaller man appeared to be having issues with his breathing, he decided they shouldn’t wait any longer.

“Sven, we’re going to the infirmary.” He whispered to Otter Man, not wanting to wake the rest of their roommates. “You’re really sick; I should’ve taken you yesterday.”

Otter Man rolled to face the wall. “ _Nej_! I am fine; let me sleep.”

“You’ve been coughing all night; I don’t think you can cough in your sleep. If we go to the infirmary maybe they can give you something to help you stop coughing and fall asleep.”

Otter Man pretended to be asleep, but his weak coughs made it obvious he was awake.

Moose Boy sighed, Otter Man was just too stubborn for his own good, and he wouldn’t get far trying to reason with him. Seeing no other options, he tossed the smaller man over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and headed for the infirmary.

“Henrik!” Shouted Otter Man. “Put me down!”

“No, you’re very sick.” He replied calmly. “You need to go to the infirmary so you can get better.”

Otter Man kept shouting and swearing in both Swedish and English, but Moose Boy didn’t relent. Eventually the smaller man tired himself out to the point where he could only give a displeased pout, and simply resigned himself to the fact that this was happening. They had probably woken up at least a few students and operatives, but nobody actually confronted them about what was going on.

The infirmary was staffed 24/7, but in the middle of the night, that usually equated to a few bored nurses. If something serious was going on, they’d wake a doctor, but most of the late-night patients just needed an ibuprofen or some ice.

The nurse at the front desk was reading a magazine, and looked annoyed when she saw Moose Boy and Otter Man. She clearly didn’t want to have to deal with any patients at that time of day.

“There aren’t any doctors here right now.” She told them simply. “If this is something that can wait until morning, I suggest you head back to your dorm and come back then.”

“This can’t wait; he’s very sick.” He told her. “We need to see a doctor right away.”

She looked at Otter Man who had broken into a coughing fit. “Yeah, there’s been a pretty bad chest cold going around. I can give him some cough syrup, and some lozenges, but it will probably just go away on its own.”

Moose Boy was starting to get angry. “Its not a cold! He has a fever, and he can’t breathe right. We need a doctor now; he’s clearly not well.”

The nurse sighed. She’d dealt with many patients who were only suffering from a mild aliment, but insisted she wake up a doctor to check on this, and she assumed this would be more of the same. In these cases, she or another nurse would have to examine the patient to see if they actually needed a doctor.

“Come with me.” She told them.

Moose Boy, who was still carrying Otter Man, followed her. She led them a bed separated from many others only by hospital curtains. Moose Boy gingerly placed Otter Man on the bed and sat down on the plastic chair next to it.

She started by taking Otter Man’s temperature, as that was usually the easiest way to decide if a patient was sick enough to actually need a doctor or not. His temperature was 102.1, anything over 101.5 was considered concerning and meant she would have to go and wake up a doctor.

“Stay here.” She told them. “A doctor will be with you in a couple minutes.”

Otter Man was already grumpy from being forced to go to the infirmary in the middle of the night, so he wasn’t exactly happy about the idea of waiting even longer. He didn’t say anything but crossed his arms and glared at the nurse as she walked away.

As soon as she was gone, Moose Boy moved from the chair to sit on the bed next to Otter Man.

“It won’t be that bad, Sven.” He assured the smaller man. “Once the doctor figures out what’s wrong with you, they can give you something to make you feel better, and you can go back to bed.”

“You didn’t have to drag me to the infirmary in the middle of the night.” He pouted. “This could have waited until morning.”

Moose Boy sighed; Otter Man was just too stubborn for his own good. “You’re really sick, Sven; you couldn’t sleep at all.”

Otter Man didn’t say anything but cuddled closer to Moose Boy. He was still angry, but the larger man was warm.

A few minutes later, Dr. Vess walked in, looking exhausted and slightly annoyed. As soon as he saw the doctor, Moose Boy quickly separated himself from Otter Man and moved back to the plastic chair.

Vess rolled his eyes and handed Moose Boy a medical mask. “Unlike the head faculty, I don’t really care about relationships between students or operatives. Just wear this mask so I don’t end up with a second patient to deal with.”

Moose Boy silently put on the mask.

Vess turned to Otter Man. “What seems to be the problem?”

“For some reason, Moose Boy seems to think I’m sick.” He replied. “Can you tell him I’m fine and just need sleep?”

Dr. Vess sighed and turned back to Moose Boy. “What are his symptoms?”

“He has a fever, he threw up a few times, he’s coughing a lot, and I can tell he’s in pain when he coughs or breathes too deeply.” Said Moose Boy. “I don’t think he can breathe right, either.”

“Hm, that sounds like it could me pneumonia, but we’ll have to run a few tests.” Said Vess. “Usually when I see a case of pneumonia its from a graduate who has been traveling around a bit, and his symptoms don’t seem to be pointing to aspiration pneumonia.”

“He was trapped out in the rain during that big storm.” Said Moose Boy. “Maybe he got sick from spending a few hours in the rain.”

“Henrik!” Snapped Otter Man. “Nobody gets sick from standing out in the rain; that’s just a myth they tell kids, so they don’t come back home soaking wet.”

“You know, he’s not completely wrong.” Explained Dr. Vess. “Being cold and wet won’t usually get you sick on its own, but it does weaken your body’s ability to fight infection. And when rainwater hits the ground, it can cause bacteria and viruses from the ground to become elevated into the air, so in a way, the rain can make you sick.”

Moose Boy grinned, feeling proud of actually being correct for once, but his smile faded when he noticed the glare Otter Man was giving him.

“We’ll have to take some chest x-rays and do a few blood tests.” Said Dr. Vess. “The nurse I spoke to said you carried him here. Can he walk on his own?”

“I can walk perfectly fine!” Otter Man snapped.

“I had to carry Sven here because otherwise he wouldn’t go.” Explained Moose Boy. “He’s been really tired and weak, so I’m not sure how well he can walk.”

Despite it hurting his chest to do so, Otter Man forced himself off the bed and into a standing position. Despite feeling exhausted, and the x-ray room feeling like it was a hundred miles away in his current state, he dismissed all offers of help from Moose Boy and Dr. Vess.

After the chest x-ray was done, and Dr. Vess had taken a few blood samples, Moose Boy and Otter Man were led to a hospital room where they were told to wait for the results. Otter Man groaned when he saw that he was being put in an actual room instead of a curtained off bed. If you were put in a hospital room in the infirmary. It usually meant you would be there for a while.

“I’ll stay with you the whole time, Sven.” Moose Boy assured him. “I know you don’t like the infirmary a lot.”

“That would be too suspicious.” Replied Otter Man. “If I’m sick, and you’re not, but you stay in the infirmary with me, people are going to find out about our relationship. They change our dorms and class schedules so we never see each other; they could even erase our memories of ever meeting.”

Moose Boy’s eyes widened. “I’d never let them do something like that! Maybe we could ask our friends for help? They’re all pretty smart.”

Otter Man rolled his eyes. “It’s the middle of the night; good luck waking up anyone to help you.”

“They’re our friends; of course, they’ll help us.” He promised. “We’ll just wait for Dr. Vess to come back with the results, and I’ll go ask them to help.”

Not long after, Vess entered the room, holding a copy of the x-ray.

“You have a chest infection; most likely pneumonia.” He told Otter Man. “Of course, we won’t know exactly until morning when one of my techs runs your blood samples. Either way, you’ll be here for at least a few days.

“I’ll give you an IV, just to get some more fluids into you, as you do seem slightly dehydrated, and I can give you something to help with the cough and discomfort, but until we figure out what the exact cause of this is, we can’t do much.” He turned to Moose Boy. “His breathing is slightly off right now, but its currently nothing to be too concerned over. If it does get worse, please page a nurse so that he can be given oxygen.”

After hooking Otter Man up to an IV and making sure he wasn’t actively dying, he handed him a small paper cup full of liquid medicine and left without another word.

Otter Man really didn’t want to drink that disgusting looking medicine, but knew if he didn’t take voluntarily, he would likely be forced to. Ignoring the taste as best he could, he quickly swallowed down the medicine. It left a revolting aftertaste in his mouth.

“Are you going to be okay if I leave to go talk to our friends quickly?” Asked Moose Boy.

“They’re not going to be happy when you wake them up in the middle of the night.” He replied. “If you want to leave, go ahead; I’m fine.”

With a sigh, Moose Boy lovingly stroked Otter Man’s hair before getting up and leaving.

At first Fallen Angel had not been happy when Moose Boy woke her up in the middle of the night. But after he explained the situation to her, she was a bit more understanding. She even woke up Crowley to help her figure out what to do.

Fallen Angel and Crowley were a match make in heaven (or a match made in hell, as they liked to call it). Not only did they both excel at scheming, their schemes always seemed to work out well. Moose Boy watched as the couple whispered back and forth for a while, before turning to him.

“We have a plan.” Said Fallen Angel. “We'll put it into action tomorrow when we’re better rested, and more people are awake.”

Crowley and Fallen Angel never let anyone in on the details of their schemes until they had already put them into action, and Moose Boy knew better than to ask.

He thanked them and headed back to the infirmary.

Otter Man was asleep when Moose Boy returned to the infirmary, so he took a seat in the chair next to the bed and soon fell asleep himself.

They were awoken in the morning by a different nurse entering the room, carrying a folder.

“The lab tech has determined that you are infected with bacterial pneumonia.” He told Otter Man. “We’ve been able to determine what strain you have and will be starting you on a course of antibiotics immediately. I’ll get those for you in a second, but first I’ve got to conduct a quick examination. For starters, how do you feel?”

“What the fuck do you think?” He snapped, clearly in no mood to talk.

Moose Boy gently ran his fingers through Otter Man’s hair, trying to calm the smaller man down. “Sven, I know you don’t feel well, but that’s no reason to yell at someone who’s just trying to do their job.”

The nurse just sighed, very used to being yelled at, at this point, and simply wrote down ‘not feeling any better’ on the chart.

Next, he checked Otter Man’s breathing, and found it to be a bit more rapid and shallow than it should be. What really concerned the nurse, however, was his temperature, which had risen to 103.5 overnight; a high-grade fever that had the chance of becoming dangerous.

“I’m going to go get Dr. Vess.” He told Moose Boy and Otter Man. “He’ll be here in just a minute.”

After the nurse left, Vess quickly entered the room with yet another nurse, who was pushing a large monitor.

“Because of your fever and breathing issues, we’ll be hooking you up to this monitor as a precaution.” He explained to Otter Man.

After hooking him up to the monitor, and injecting two different liquids into his IV, Dr. Vess took away all of Otter Man’s blankets except for one.

Otter Man attempted to protest, but instead broke into a fit of coughing. Moose Boy forced the smaller man into a sitting position and rubbed his back until the ordeal was over.

“The blankets will only serve to heat you up and raise your fever.” Said Vess. “I left you one so you wouldn’t be completely uncomfortable. Later on, we’ll have you try eating, and providing you can keep something down, I’ll give you another blanket.”

After handing Otter Man another tiny paper cup with the same disgusting medicine from before, he left.

Otter Man glared at the medicine as if it had insulted him but drank it anyways.

At first, he was okay with just the one blanket, but after a few minutes, he started to shiver.

“Henrik, I’m cold.” He whined. “Fix it.”

Otter Man had always been a very self-sufficient person, so if he was actually asking Moose Boy for help with something like this, it really meant he was feeling unwell.

Moose Boy wasn’t sure what to do at first. He couldn’t go and grab another blanket, and he didn’t have a hoodie or anything on to give Otter Man (and he didn’t think that would have been allowed, either), so he simply wrapped the smaller man up in the one blanket like a burrito, crawled into the bed with him, and held him in his arms.

Not half an hour later, another one of their roommates, a German woman who went by Data, entered the room. For some reason, she looked a bit surprised.

“I though you both had pneumonia.” She told them. “Or maybe my English is still off, and Crowley told me that just Sven was sick, but I didn’t understand it.”

While all three of them were not native English speakers, Data’s English was arguably the worst. She was very intelligent but had lived as extremely sheltered life before joining VILE and hadn’t had much human interaction besides what she’d had with her father.

“Its just Sven who’s sick.” Confirmed Moose Boy. “I don’t think your English is wrong; I asked Crowley and Fallen Angel for a favor so that I could stay with Sven in the infirmary, so maybe he’s trying to confuse everybody.”

Data thought for a minute before realizing what was going on. “They must have spread a rumor that both of you had pneumonia so nobody would question why you were also out of class. I don’t think the head faculty, much less any students, would care enough to go down to the infirmary to confirm, and Crowley must have realized that.”

Otter Man finally spoke up from where he lay. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now? Dr. Bellum is probably wondering where you are since you’re one of her favorite students.”

Data got a look on her face like she had suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right! I came here in the first place to get a burn treated that I got in class. I should probably have that looked at now. See you later!”

She exited the room as quickly as she had entered.

For the most part, the medicine seemed to be working. Otter Man’s fever had gone down slightly, and he’d even felt up to eating, even if it had only been a small bowl of soup.

After another round of the disgusting medicine, he finally fell into a peaceful sleep around noon, curled up next to Moose Boy. While he did seem to be getting better, Dr. Vess wanted to keep him hooked up to the monitor for a little longer, just in case.

By midafternoon, Otter Man seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. He was still asleep, but his fever had gone back up, and his sleep seemed anything but restful as he tossed and turned and shook.

As Moose Boy was about to go get Dr. Vess to come and figure out what was wrong, Otter Man opened his eyes and sat straight up, his eyes wide. Before Moose Boy could ask if he was okay, he turned and vomited into the basin beside the bed.

“Sven, are you okay?” Asked Moose Boy very concerned at this point.

Otter Man stared at him but didn’t really seem to be hearing him.

“The window is broken.” He muttered, sounding a bit out of it. “I have to get Edvin and Magnus out of the house before mom and dad get home. If they’re not here, they’ll be okay.”

He tried to get up, but Moose Boy held him down.

“Sven, you’re not a kid anymore; you don’t need to protect your brothers anymore.” He tried to explain. “You’re not in Sweden anymore, and your parents aren’t here.”

While Otter Man hadn’t told Moose Boy everything, he had still shared enough for the taller man to know what was going on. Otter Man’s parents had been abusive his whole life, both physically and emotionally, and he’d always tried to protect his younger brothers from suffering the same fate as him. At fifteen he had run away and hadn’t seen his brothers since.

Otter Man still didn’t seem aware of where he was, thanks to his high fever.

“Let me go!” He shouted, trying to escape Moose Boy’s grasp. “I have to protect my brothers!”

The commotion had attracted Dr. Vess, who quickly ran in with a syringe and jabbed the needle into Otter Man’s arm. The sick man slowly stopped struggling and fell unconscious in Moose Boy’s arms.

“It’s a sedative.” Explained Vess. “His fever has gone up and he’s delirious. I’ll give him something to bring down the fever, and something to keep him calm.”

He left the room and came back a few minutes later with two types of liquid, both of which he added to the IV.

“He’s going to be out for a while; a day at least.” He told Moose Boy. “You should take that time to eat a proper meal and get some sleep. Like I said; I don’t need a second sick patient to deal with.”

Otter Man stayed unconscious for almost two days. Moose Boy made sure to eat proper meals and get enough sleep, but always had one of their friends stay with Otter Man during that time, in case the sick man woke up.

When Otter Man finally woke up, his fever had gone down significantly, and he didn’t seem out of it anymore.

Moose Boy had been sitting in the chair next to the bed, trying to catch up on some of his missed schoolwork, when he noticed Otter Man open his eyes.

“Sven!” He shouted, hugging the smaller man. “You’re okay!”

“I still feel like shit.” He groaned. “What happened?”

“You had a really high fever and Dr. Vess had to sedate you.” Explained Moose Boy. “You were really delirious and thought you were a kid again and had to protect your brothers. You’ve been unconscious for almost two days.”

As if on cue, Dr. Vess entered the room to check on Otter Man.

“You seem to be recovering better now.” He said, examining the sick man. “Your fever has gone down sufficiently.”

“So, I’ll be able to return to my classes soon?” Asked Otter Man, wanting to get out of the infirmary as soon as possible.

“You won’t be out for a least a few more days.” Said the doctor. “After that, you can go back to your classes, but I want you to avoid strenuous activity such as sparing for at least another week. You’ll also have to take antibiotics for six or so weeks.”

Otter Man groaned. “Fuck.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I would love if you left a comment.  
> Dr. Vess belongs to Violetfic and is used with permission.  
> I'll be posting the next Bits and Pieces within 7-10 days.


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